


Sesquipedalian

by JuliaM (seshat0120)



Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Gen, Magnificent Seven AU: ATF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-10 19:21:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19910893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seshat0120/pseuds/JuliaM
Summary: Ezra wonders just what's gotten into his teammates.





	Sesquipedalian

**Author's Note:**

> In response to a challenge on the Mag 7 Fic Corral FB group. I've bolded the words I used.

Ezra looked around the bullpen at the other members of Team Seven wondering what had gotten into them. It’s not that he was intentionally eavesdropping on their conversations, he just couldn’t help but overhear what they were saying. The more he heard, the more he wondered if there was something wrong with him or if all his teammates were suffering from some hitherto unknown ailment.  
  
“I’m tellin’ ya, JD,” Buck said with a dreamy look on his face. “When Cindy’s sleeping, she’s so **erinaceous**. She just curls up in this little ball and it’s so damned cute.”  
  
“Erinaceous?” Ezra mouthed as he gave Buck a puzzled look.  
  
“Cindy?” JD asked. “Is that who was in your bedroom that **nudiustertian** morning? I can’t see how someone that tall can curl into a small ball.”  
  
“Huh? No. That was Mandy. You know Cindy. She’s the blonde who works over at Starbucks.”  
  
Ezra shook his head slightly and stared at JD and Buck wide-eyed. He was about to interrupt when the conversation Nathan and Josiah were having distracted him.  
  
“It’s lucky I was paying attention and saw it,” Nathan said. “Otherwise Rain’s cousin would have ended up with **tyrotoxism**.”  
  
Josiah whistled softly under his breath. “That would have been bad. You think something like that would be listed on the menu.”  
  
“I know,” Nathan agreed. “And not only because of tyrotoxism. Someone who’s lactose intolerant would be in a world of hurt, too.”  
  
“I hope he was able to find some other **jentacular** items that wouldn’t cause a problem,” Josiah said.  
  
Again, Ezra shook his head slightly. He considered himself a well-educated man, but it had been like this the whole morning. He was barely able to follow half of what he heard the others saying. He started fervently hoping no one would try to include him in conversation.  
  
“Hey Ez,” he heard Vin call over to him. “Got a question for ya.”  
  
Ezra tried not to groan somehow knowing deep down it was going to be as if Vin were speaking another language. He quickly applied himself to the report open on his computer hoping that would dissuade him from any conversation. “As soon as I finish this,” he said pointing to the screen.  
  
“It’ll only take a second,” Vin said. “I was out at Chris’ ranch all weekend – spent most of the time in the stable helping him do some work. You know, those stalls that need fixin.’”  
  
Ezra nodded slightly. So far, his fear was not being realized.  
  
“Well, I was just wondering if you thought I was **jumentous**?”  
  
“Jumentous?” Ezra nearly squeaked as he wracked his brain trying to figure out just what the answer should be? “Um….”  
  
Before he was able to answer, Chris walked up to them. “I told you Vin, you’re not jumentous. You smell more like you’re a **xylopolist** after fixing all them stalls.”  
  
“Enough,” Ezra roared hearing Chris’ response. At once, all conversation in the bullpen stopped and six sets of eyes were turned in his direction. “I demand to know what’s going on. What kind of game are all of you playing?” he asked into the silence.  
  
“Game?” Chris questioned. “I don’t know what you mean.” He looked around to the others. “You boys have any idea.” A series of no’s and headshakes greeted the question. “No game,” he said to Ezra. “You feeling all right? You’re looking a little out of sorts. Maybe Nathan should have a look at you?”  
  
“I am fine,” Ezra responded through gritted teeth. “You gentleman, despite your insistence to the contrary, are playing some kind of game. You’re…you’re…” he waved a hand as he searched for the words he wanted. “You’re talking in code or something.”  
  
“Code?” Vin asked in confusion. “We’re all talking plain English, Ez. You’re sure you’re feeling ok.”  
  
“Jumentous, Mr. Tanner,” Ezra said through gritted teeth. “You asked me if I thought you were jumentous. If that’s not some kind of code word, then what the hell is it?”  
  
“Horse piss,” Vin responded quickly which only served to further confuse Ezra. It also started the other five laughing.  
  
“I fail to see what’s so humorous,” Ezra snapped.”  
  
“It means I smell like horse piss,” Vin said through his laughter. He gestured to Ezra’s computer. “Go ahead. Look it up. You spell it j-u-m-e-n-t-o-u-s.”  
  
Ezra quickly pulled up an online dictionary and typed in the word as Vin had spelled it. “Smelling strongly of horse urine,” he read softly from the screen. “It’s a real word,” he continued in wonderment.  
  
“You doubted me?” Vin asked.  
  
“You just all...,” Ezra said in confusion as he gestured to the other six. “All morning I haven’t been able to understand…I thought maybe something was wrong…or it was some kind of code.” He looked again at his computer screen. “It’s a real word.”  
  
His confusion only prompted the other six to laugh harder. Finally, JD took pity on him. “You’re always using those big words so we thought we’d give you a taste of your own medicine. We looked up a bunch of really big words. We each memorized what a bunch of them meant so we could use them in conversation.” He shrugged slightly. “We thought you’d know what they all meant.”  
  
"So, this was a game.” Ezra looked between the other six. “You gentleman do realize there’s a difference between speaking properly and sounding like you swallowed a dictionary and not being understood by others. Please, tell me one time that you did not understand what I was saying.”  
  
Silence greeted his question before Buck spoke up. “Huh…I guess there really hasn’t been.”  
  
“We didn’t mean anything by it,” Josiah said by way of apology. “We just thought it might be fun to see how many of the words you knew the meaning of.”  
  
“Other than Buck comparing his current dalliance to a hedgehog, I thought for sure it was all being made up. I don’t suppose you still have this list of words?” he asked as a thoughtful look came to his face.  
  
"Oh, yeah. Right here,” JD said as he pulled a sheet of paper from his desk and handed it to Ezra.  
  
Ezra took the paper, an almost evil grin on his face. “Thank you, JD. Although I may not have known what most of the words you gentlemen were using meant, it certainly doesn’t hurt to improve one’s vocabulary.” He scanned down the list of words. “Hmm…tarantism. I’m surprised when your cousin was suffering from tyrotoxism he didn’t also have tarantism,” he said looking over to Nathan.  
  
“I wasn’t joking about that,” Nathan said. “Rain’s cousin Bob does have some weird cheese allergy. If I hadn’t noticed they’d put mozerella in that omelet, it could have been bad.”  
  
“Hmm...” was Ezra’s response as he folded the sheet of paper into quarters and slipped it into the inside pocked of his suit jacket. “This has been quite edifying, gentleman. I believe I’ll be able to find a use for all of these.”  
  
Almost in concert, the other six groaned as they realized the retribution that would be coming their way.


End file.
